armchair cultural observation since 1995

How corporations made Harlem Shake viral

harlem-shake

Experts said the “Harlem Shake” phenomenon was emergent behavior from the hive mind of the internet—accidental, ad hoc, uncoordinated: a “meme” that “went viral.” But this is untrue. The real story of the “Harlem Shake” shows how much popular culture has changed and how much it has stayed the same.

Kevin Ashton, in a Quartz article “You didn’t make the Harlem Shake go viral—corporations did.”

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